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"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all... The Nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest ... Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world." - George Washington, Farewell Address, 17 Sept. 1796.

"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none." - Thomas Jefferson, 1801 inaugural address.

But hey... what the hell did they know...

You mean the Thomas Jefferson who intervened in North Africa without a declaration of war? Or how about when James Madison, who was not only, unlike Jefferson, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but actually penned the document, did the same thing during his Administration? Would Ron Paul consider those acts unconstitutional, or just when Bush does it?

Also, those quotes need to be kept in the context of the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, which was a far different situation than those we've faced in the 20th and 21st centuries. Would they have had us leave Britain to stand alone against Nazi Germany? Would they have objected to NATO, preferring that we abandon Europe to the Soviets? I rather think not.

If the Constitutional Convention had truly wished to prevent treaties of alliance, they might have limited the President's and the Senate's power to do so in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. They didn't, though, probably because they foresaw that it might be necessary or desirable to do so in the future.